Can it be better for a child to come into existence?

[noname223]

In my opinion most parents should not procreate. (Especially my parents) My sister wants to pro-create I think this is extreme insanity due to our genes, epigenetics and I have doubt about her skills to raise a child properly. I think it is extremely difficult to raise a child without causing damage.
I sometimes hear professors or highly qualified people speaking about their awesome childhood. (I am kind of jealous I think this increases your chance to become happy.)
However I am not fully sure about one thing. If the parents are filfthy rich, are really smart so that they can raise their child properly, live in a safe country and have really good genes would it be right to procreate. I know a lot of horrible shit can still happen in the life of the children. However it is way more likely they will live a happy life. Moreover they probably would be happy to come into existence.
I am not fully sure if this would be a smart decision. Children of really rich people become sometimes drug addicts and destroy their life.
Probably I would still suggest not to get children. This world can be really evil.

 

[WaaaghEnjoyer]

In my opinion most parents should not procreate. (Especially my parents) My sister wants to pro-create I think this is extreme insanity due to our genes, epigenetics and I have doubt about her skills to raise a child properly. I think it is extremely difficult to raise a child without causing damage.
I sometimes hear professors or highly qualified people speaking about their awesome childhood. (I am kind of jealous I think this increases your chance to become happy.)
However I am not fully sure about one thing. If the parents are filfthy rich, are really smart so that they can raise their child properly, live in a safe country and have really good genes would it be right to procreate. I know a lot of horrible shit can still happen in the life of the children. However it is way more likely they will live a happy life. Moreover they probably would be happy to come into existence.
I am not fully sure if this would be a smart decision. Children of really rich people become sometimes drug addicts and destroy their life.
Probably I would still suggest not to get children. This world can be really evil.

The percentage of the human population that even considers not having children is probably quite small. Most just think "Yeah, I guess I'll have children, that's what everyone does". There's not much more to it.

Also, most people don't think about not living until old age and thus children become very useful as they usually feel compelled to take care of their decaying parents. So there is a practical side to it after all.

 

[lugerepair]

I don't think it is ever better for a child to come into existence than to never come into existence. No matter what, everyone's life involves suffering and ultimately ends in death. That is true of even the best of lives.

 

[FuneralCry]

From my point of view, I think it is always better to never be born in the first place. This life holds unlimited potential for suffering and there is no limit as to how bad it can get. The fact that we exist in the first place is the cause of all of our problems. Never existing means no suffering.

 

[deflationary]

I think it can be "better" for an individual in the sense that I do believe it's possible to live a more or less happy life if you're lucky, but that doesn't make up for the lives that suck. Those lives are then just human sacrifice or collateral damage in order to generate happy lives (that no one ever needed while they were chilling in nonexistence). And that's fucked up.

 

[slyna]

From my point of view, I think it is always better to never be born in the first place. This life holds unlimited potential for suffering and there is no limit as to how bad it can get. The fact that we exist in the first place is the cause of all of our problems. Never existing means no suffering.

The crazy thing is that this is needed to be said

 

[motel rooms]

Fucking ADOPT if you really love children so much, disgusting selfish breeders!

 

[noname223]

I just wonder many people say life is worth the suffering and are glad that their parents made the choice to pro-create. David Bennetar says this is a positive shift in thinking in order to cope with the suffering in the world. (to focus on positive instead of the suffering in order to function, despite the fact the negative is way bigger)

 

[RedPanda]

No, it's a curse.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

Depends on how you look at it. I'd personally not risk for new suffering to occur.

 

[Mr2005]

It seems I'm answering ten of these a day. As long as it's not interfering with your life let people get on with theres. SS is getting worse for people projecting their misery onto the whole world

 

[insanedoomer]

no , i can judge it a crime .

 

[one.way.out]

I don't want to pass my mental illnesses down to my children. So, I'm not going to have them.

 

[auror.]

When I was a kid, I used to believe that having children was one of the most morally reprehensible things a person could do. Then I learned that there are people who have great childhoods, and there are mentally sound parents who put a lot of thought into raising their kids, and that most parents are trying the best they can even if they didn't have a healthy childhood themselves.

I don't think that the mere act of having kids is plain evil anymore. Although, people should definitely think twice about starting a family before they are financially and psychologically stable. Naturally, I believe that want-to-be-parents should learn about childcare & psychology. In an ideal world, to me at least, people would need a license before they could have kids. They'd need to prove that they're sound thinkers, emotionally mature, understanding of child psychology, financially responsible, etc, etc. Courses to learn these things would be commonplace.

Now, is it better for a child to come into existence? I don't see why it would be. Then again, I think it would have been better for humans to have never existed in the first place. But we're here. So…

 

[m9q2As2$IG]

It could be, but I think it is more a discussion of probability. Many things are by the stretch of the imagination and beyond technically possible, because it is impossible for anyone to predict the future accurately.

Like, tomorrow an alien species could come to earth. The probability? Let's say 1/googolplex percent.

I personally think people should require permission to have a child. A sort of pros and cons list to ensure the positivity of bringing this new child to the world.

Not like that will ever happen, especially in America the belief in being free to do as you wish is very strong.

 

[LastLoveLetter]

It is always better to not be born than to roll the dice and hope for the best. I do not feel that the latter is ethically sound, in my opinion.

Life is a lottery. We have no say in who our parents are, what environment we are born in, what genetic predispositions or conditions we may struggle with and what privileges we do or do not have. If life draws a particularly bad hand for you, those cards will follow you everywhere you go.

I am sparing a child from poverty, potential illnesses, disabilities and any form of suffering by not having them in the first place.

We live in a vastly overpopulated world and it is estimated that we have approximately 153 million orphans worldwide. Yet millions of children suffering in poverty, slave labour, trafficking, abusive households, passed around the social care system and living in countries impacted by conflict are left to rot in favour of biological offspring. All because of instinct - I have yet to hear a rational, sensible argument for why procreation is so superior to adoption, considering the staggering number of orphaned and unwanted children there are in this world.

If I were to have children, it would make sense to adopt an unwanted child rather than birth yet another. This is something I had hoped to do when I was younger - obviously poor health, poverty and life circumstances mean that adoption is not an option. And I prioritise the ability to take care of a human being over my own selfish desires.

Too many people decide to have kids anyway, even if they're evidently ill-equipped to care for a child and unable to provide stability. You need a licence to drive a car, you need qualifications for most forms of employment, yet anyone is permitted to procreate for any reason or no reason at all.

You would think that such a colossal decision involving another human life would have some form of regulation, but no. Even proposing such a thing will be met with indignation, rage and accusations of promoting eugenics.

Putting the preservation of the right to procreate into perspective: It's okay for parents to procreate and subsequently abuse their children (any intervention that occurs is after damage has been done, if at all), but it's unacceptable to put preventative measures in place so that abusive, dangerous individuals do not have kids to destroy to begin with.

Even in the case of rich and stable parents, adoption makes more sense than bringing another life into existence. Plus, they cannot prevent all forms of suffering their child could endure throughout their lives. Happiness is not a guarantee but pain certainly is.